"Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn

I brought "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn to the beach with me to read after I read her other book, "Gone Girl."  It was a pretty quick read.  I liked the suspense of "Gone Girl" better, but actually liked the ending of "Sharp Objects" vs. "Gone Girl" (did not like the ending).  It was a very interesting book.

Overview from Barnes & Noble:

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: she must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful thirteen-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims—a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story—and survive this homecoming.

"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn

As I was perusing books about a year and a half ago, another lady in the recommended "Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn to me.  As I normally do, I took a picture of the book to remember to buy it later, and forgot it about it.  When I was at the movie theater a few weeks ago, I saw the preview for the movie "Gone Girl" and knew I had to read the book before I watched the movie (I won't read a book if I've already seen the movie).  So I picked up the book and read it over our beach vacation last month.

The book was a little hard to get into at first, but it picked up pretty quickly.  It was captivating and kept me on edge waiting to find out what was going to happen next.  I loved the book up until the last few pages.  I hated the ending.  As not to spoil it, I won't go into why I hated it, but if you read the book, you will probably agree.

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer? 

I'm also attaching a link to one of the trailers.  I hope I am happier with the movie than I am with the book.  This is one movie that I wouldn't mind having a different ending than the book.

"The Dinner" by Herman Koch

I was in Barnes and Noble and The Dinner by Herman Koch and the back cover piqued my interest.  The back cover mentioned that the parents of two boys were meeting over dinner and that a single horrific act united the boys.  Nosy me wanted to know what they did.  That's all that it took for me to buy it.

It was a good book, but I wasn't super impressed.  Pretty much the entire book is about this dinner.  I felt like I was at a never-ending dinner.  It did keep me in suspense to see what would happen.  I wasn't crazy about the ending either.  I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it.

Overview from Barnes & Noble's website:

An internationally bestselling phenomenon: the darkly suspenseful, highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives—all over the course of one meal.

It's a summer's evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
     Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
     Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy.